Dark Purposes Part 1
by Arcole
Summary: Strange new animals threaten Uly and True, leaving True desperately ill. Can the Terrians help her? This is Season 2, Episode 6 of my quest to continue the series. Do read in order. It'll make more sense if you do.
1. Chapter 1

Dark Purposes

**Disclaimer: I don't own Earth 2, but I am suffering from the delusion that it's almost time for network sweeps. BTW, if you're thinking of starting here, I wouldn't recommend it. Even though its a pretty serious time investment at this point, I'd start with "Blast from the Past"--my Season 2, Episode 1 and work through from there. Otherwise, this won't make nearly as much sense as it should. **

Chapter One

_True VO: It's day 168 according to Yale. He keeps up with all that for us. Today my dad has promised us a normal day. I hope so because we haven't had many of those lately. Alonzo, Julia, Magus, and Walman are going to take me and Uly out for a picnic and to go forage in the prairie for food. Julia says the storm made everything grow really fast—even the earth trees that were planted around here when the first settlers came. _

_I would have said that it was magic if I still believed in magic. Gaal said this planet was a place where magic happens. He showed me a flower that he could make bloom just by holding it in his hand. I believed him then, but later Yale showed me the same flower and told me it was a night blooming flower, kind of like a flower on earth called a moonflower. If you put it in a dark place like in your hand, it will bloom. It wasn't magic at all. _

_This planet isn't magic, it's just weird. Weird and dangerous. I'm worried about my dad. He's been through a lot on this planet—like when he got so sick. The little boy told me that if the Elder hadn't found him, he would have died._

_Everyone thought he was dead a few days ago when the storm came through. They think Uly and I don't hear them talking, but we do and I knew what they were saying. I never used to be scared for him on the stations, but here I'm afraid that something bad will happen to him. Because it already has._

_But the thing about my dad that scares me most right now is how much he needs me. Like when the Grendler came to camp after they came back from scouting for Cargo Pod 9. I went out to talk to it. My dad thought I'd been kidnapped and he begged the Grendler to take him instead of me. He said I was the only thing he had to live for. I don't know what he'd do if something bad happened to me. _

_I saw how he looked when we left Devon in cold sleep—like she'd died. I don't want to see that look on his face again. I don't want to be the one that makes him feel that way. If I'm all he's got to live for, what would he do if I died? That really scares me. It scares me so bad I don't want to tell him that for the last couple of days I haven't been feeling too good._

After the storm, the once dusty brown plain opened before them in a sea of green bordered by scattered stands of trees. The brightly colored heads of flowers dotted the green scape and in the distance were herds of grazing animals, their shaggy brown backs standing out in contrast against the colors of the lush vegetation.

"This has to be one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen," Julia said as they walked toward a stand of trees.

Alonzo gave her a long look, saying, "I have to agree." She turned to his glance, realizing that he was looking at her. He was gratified to see a little blush come to her face as she realized his intent. She gave him a little shove on the arm and looked around for the children.

Uly and True ran ahead of them in the tall grass. "Don't get too far ahead!" Alonzo shouted. "Stay in sight of us or Walman and Magus."

"Are you sure you want to do that to Walman and Magus?" Julia asked with a smile. "They've gone on pretty far ahead. They might want a little privacy."

"We might want a little privacy ourselves," Alonzo teased.

"We're all supposed to be foraging. This is work, not play," Julia replied with a laugh. "I really ought to be back in the lab working on that particle. I've got it identified, but I have no idea what it is, what it does, or how to stop it." Julia sighed as she and Alonzo waded through the tall grass, pushing aside the occasional flower stalk.

Alonzo reached out to take her elbow, turning her gently to look at him. "You cannot work 24 hours a day," he said, running his hand down her arm. "You take a few hours of R&R to regroup. I'll look clearer to you after you've gotten a fresh perspective." Then he gave her one of those disarming grins he managed so well and continued to tempt her saying, "Plus I grabbed some food from Cameron before we left. We could have a picnic."

"I'd feel a little guilty having a picnic while everybody else is working," Julia answered sternly, then gave him a conspiratorial smile. "But only a little."

About that time, Alonzo's gear chirped and he pulled it into place. "What's up?" he asked.

Danziger's voice came over the channel from camp. "While you guys are out, we're going to do a little work with this ZED."

"Are you sure you want to tackle this with four of us out of camp?" Alonzo asked with concern.

"That's the point. I wanted most of us and the kids far away from here just in case things get out of hand," Danziger answered from the med lab. He stood in the doorway watching as Morgan, Bess, and Yale donned VR gear in preparation for working on the ZED's programming.

"Who's got your back then?" Alonzo's voice returned over the gear.

"I'm going to get Baines and Mazatyl to stand guard," Danziger replied.

"Are you sure about that? Baines thinks things are already out of hand," Alonzo answered.

"I know," Danziger responded as he considered the strength and unpredictability of the huge ZED on the med lab examination table. "I'm counting on it."

**Roll opening credits.**

"You're counting on Baines's paranoia?" Alonzo sounded incredulous.

"Out of everyone in this group, Baines is the most likely to spot something going wrong. Mazatyl is nicely impartial and should keep Baines from shooting me without good reason," Danziger replied with an even good humor. "And I am going to make sure Baines has a sedi-derm and not something lethal."

Alonzo laughed. "You guys be careful, all right?"

"Don't worry about us," Danziger continued. "Just keep an eye on True and Uly for me, okay? You can get me, Baines, or Mazatyl on gear or Dream to me if you have to. Bess will be tied up with Morgan and Yale's link."

Ending the contact with Alonzo, Danziger headed over to the bed where the red-haired ZED lay in deep hibernation. Yale had already removed as many of the ZED's more dangerous cybernetic accessories as he could.

"I think we are as ready to begin as we can be," Yale ventured cautiously.

Danziger nodded and called Baines and Mazatyl on gear to join them. After a few minutes, the two men entered the room, Baines clearly hanging back close to the door. "How's work progressing on the rail?" Danziger asked.

"As well as can be expected considering that we've got no equipment to straighten the frame and no replacement solar conversion panels," Baines answered in disgust. "Danz, you might as well face it, the rail is history."

"You may be right," Danziger sighed. The loss of the vehicle was a tremendous blow. Without the rail they would have no way to carry more than two passengers on a scout, plus they lost a significant amount of cargo capacity. The rover was already heavily loaded when the entire camp moved and they'd already salvaged a good bit of equipment from the settlement that they wanted to take with them.

"Anyway," Danziger shook himself out of his dark thoughts about the dunerail's demise and continued, "I didn't bring you guys in here to talk about the rail." He walked over to the med lab's storage unit and pulled out the pistol and a sedi-derm. "We're going to be working on the ZED and I want you two to stand guard."

He passed the pistol to Mazatyl and the sedi-derm to Baines—he hadn't been kidding with Alonzo when he said he didn't want Baines lethally armed. The man was on a hair trigger lately—caution was a good thing, panic was not.

"What do you want us to do?" Mazatyl asked, turning the pistol over in his hands.

"The four of us," Danziger gestured to Morgan, Bess, and Yale, "will be in VR and on the Dreamplane trying to rewrite the operations procedure for the ZED. If something should go wrong, you two are in charge of seeing that the camp is safe."

"Safe from who?" Baines asked suspiciously.

"Safe from the ZED," Danziger replied. "Who else?"

"What if something freaky happens to you while you're zoned out?" Baines asked directly. "What if you go all inhuman on us?"

"Baines, if I become a threat to the camp, you have a direct order to take me out—just don't kill me if you can possibly help it," Danziger responded, just as directly. "Mazatyl, don't let him kill me without just cause, okay?"

Mazatyl nodded, suppressing a grin. Baines's expression wavered between relief that his fears had been addressed so completely and chagrin that Danziger might be making fun of him.

Danziger turned to face Baines directly, intent on making his true meaning clear. "Baines, out of everyone in this camp, you are the most suspicious of all this. Consequently, you will be the first to notice that something is wrong. I am counting on this. I've gotten too close to see all this as clearly as I should, so I am depending on you to watch carefully for me. I mean that."

Baines stood there under Danziger's sincere gaze, then nodded in acceptance. "I'll keep a close eye on you, Danziger. On all of you."

Danziger nodded, then added, "You two, keep your gear on in case Alonzo calls in for you. Cameron and Danner are heading out to join them on forage. I didn't want anyone else in reach of this thing—just in case."

As Baines and Mazatyl adjusted their gear, Danziger turned back to the group surrounding the ZED.

Okay, guys, let's get in there and see what we've got."

Out on the grassy verge, True and Uly darted back and forth between tall flowers. "Look at this one!" Uly cried pointing to a giant pink flower that stood at least as tall as he did.

"It's so pretty," True breathed in appreciation. As they looked deeper within the flower, the children could see a feeding insect, its wings nearly translucent and its body a bright yellow. "Everything is so colorful here," she added. "I've been so used to seeing brown and gray that it seems strange to see plants and insects with some color to them."

"Yale says we're on the edge of a change in the ecosystem," Uly added seriously.

"What does that mean?" True asked skeptically.

Uly paused, aware that he'd been caught out. Instead of admit that he didn't know either, he just shrugged and ran on to the next flower.

"I'll tell you what that means," Julia interjected as she and Alonzo drew near the children. "It means that the landscape is changing and we're likely to see new types of plants and animals that are more adapted to the new terrain. On earth there were a large number of ecosystems—everything from mountain to prairies to rain forest to jungle. I hope we're moving into an area that is a little less mountainous and maybe a bit warmer."

"I'll be glad to warm up," True said. "I stay cold."

"Even on a day like today?" Alonzo asked. "It's plenty warm out."

"Not to me," True answered. Julia noticed that she did indeed have on her heavy jacket while the rest of them were in their shirt sleeves.

"Well, we should warm up soon," Julia concluded. "Spring is finally, fully here."

The four walked through the prairie landscape, checking for edibles as they went. Soon they'd reached a stand of trees that grew in lines just a bit too straight for random growth. "This must be an orchard planted by the settlers," Alonzo stated. "But does fruit usually appear this early in the year?"

"I don't think so," Julia answered. "In the stations' hydroponics there were plenty of dwarf fruit trees that were engineered to bear year round. But that wouldn't work on a planet with an actual winter. The trees would have to go dormant during the cold to survive. I believe it took months for the fruit to grow on earth."

"Then these trees have either been genetically altered to bear early or that storm did something to them as well," Alonzo said as he reached up to pick a perfectly ripe peach from a nearby limb.

Julia ran the scanner over it, her eyes widening with surprise. "This appears to be a completely earth normal peach," she began, "but with the slightest shift in composition toward G889 plant life. It's like the tree is becoming more like a native plant."

Uly took a good look at the peach. "All I want to know is can we eat it," he half-asked, half-stated.

True also peered at the unfamiliar fruit. "Are raw peaches good?" she asked. "I've only had the stored kind."

Julia looked at Alonzo, then picked another. "Why don't you take a bite and find out?" she said, handing the fruit to True as Alonzo passed his to Uly. She then took another for herself and bit carefully into the fuzzy skin.

To her initial embarrassment quickly followed by delight, the peach was very juicy and very sweet, the juice running down her chin in a sticky trail. The squeals of the children confirmed that theirs were just as succulent.

"I don't think I've ever tasted anything so good in my life," Julia sighed, licking her lips.

Seeing that the children were occupied, Alonzo stepped next to her and gave her a thorough kiss. "Neither have I," he murmured suggestively.

Behind their peaches, Uly and True just rolled their eyes at each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Let's go down to the creek and wash our hands," True suggested, seeing that Alonzo and Julia were going to be wrapped up in each other for a bit.

Uly agreed and the two wandered out of the orchard to a narrow creek that flowed down out of the foothills and into the prairie. They finished their peaches, tossing the stones to the ground. Uly bent down and began to wash his hands and face in the cold water.

"Wait a minute!" True yelled at him. "You haven't checked the water yet. That could be acid."

"Could be, but isn't," Uly answered cavalierly as he bent down to take a drink to wash the fuzz out of his mouth.

True held out the small scanner she'd slipped into her pack and gravely studied the readouts it gave her. "Uly, that water is too acidic to drink," she said firmly.

"You're crazy," he replied. "It tastes just fine."

She reached down and put the tips of her fingers in the cold water. After only a few seconds, they began to burn and sting. "Ouch! I told you it was too acid," she exclaimed.

Uly, meanwhile, just sat there, water pooled up in his hand. "Then why isn't it burning me?" he asked smartly. "I think you're just being a baby."

"I am not!" she retorted.

Uly was preparing to begin a nice, comfortable contradiction match with her, when he heard a low sound. "Shhhh," he said, putting his finger over his mouth. "I hear something."

True listened closely and heard it too. It was a low, bleating sound coming from a nearby clump of grass. The two children walked quietly to the clump, parting the tall blades to see a baby grazing animal—Yale said the settlers had called them buffalo after an old earth herd beast.

The baby buffalo was curled up in the tall grass, bleating softly. "I think it's hiding," True suggested.

"Hiding from what?" Uly asked in a soft voice. "We haven't seen anything out here but insects and other buffalo."

"Terrians maybe?" True ventured.

"Why would it hide from Terrians?" Uly asked disdainfully. "Terrians don't eat meat."

"I don't know. Grendlers maybe?" True tried again, a bit comforted that Terrians weren't carnivorous.

"We haven't seen any Grendlers since we left the biodome," Uly replied.

"Then what?" True asked. "What is this baby hiding from?"

Suddenly Uly's eyes went wide and his skin dropped two shades of color as he pointed past the baby's head. "From that!"

Back in the med lab, Baines was beginning to actually get bored. Watching the four of them work on the ZED was about as interesting as watching paint dry. Less interesting actually, because Baines had watched effect paints dry into amazing patterns and designs.

So far, he'd seen nothing to alarm him. Morgan and Yale stood side by side in VR gear, concentrating intently. Bess stood next to Morgan with her hand on his arm, her eyes close and her head cocked to one side like she was listening to distant music.

Danziger, on the other hand, stood eyes open with a sedi-derm pressed against the back of the ZED's neck. However, Baines had to say that Danz didn't appear to be looking at anything actually in the room with them.

It surprised him then when Danziger focused his gaze on Baines and spoke to him. "We're going to try loading the restart now. Yale and Morgan left their immobilization code in place, but if it fails, I'm going to hit him with this sedi-derm. If that fails, shoot him in the back of the head here, but try not to shoot us, okay?" Danziger commanded sternly.

Baines and Mazatyl agreed and Mazatyl took up a position more conducive to aiming the pistol in the right spot.

Danziger drew back onto the Dreamplane where Bess waited with Morgan and Yale. "You guys ready?" he asked, watching with dizzy interest as the digital VR world and the Dreamplane mixed together. The ZED himself was a sort of black hole before them.

The planet had told them that ZEDs were not reachable by Dreaming under normal Terrian circumstances. They were too full of technological interventions that interrupted the Dreaming. Yale, however, had managed to come partially into the Dreamplane through the VR link with Morgan and they hoped the ZED would also be able to link in—through that link bolstered by contact with the planet through Bess. Danziger stood nervously to the side as an observer and safeguard rather than active participant in the process.

He watched and listened as Bess spoke with the planet, then drew Morgan and Yale's link closer to the ZED. Information swirled around the ZED's dark image, catching it like a stick catching fire as the ZED came to consciousness. Danziger darted a glance to the waking world to be sure the ZED wasn't moving. Fortunately, the immobilization code held firm and the ZED remained frozen into place.

He gave a reassuring nod to Baines and Mazatyl, then slipped back onto the Dreamplane to see what the others were finding out.

"Where am I?" the ZED was asking in a voice that sounded flat and dead against the usual resonance of the Dreamscape.

"You're safe," Bess answered gently. Morgan found it comforting that Bess treated the ZED kindly even though the genetically modified soldier had been stripped of emotional capability due to its programming. Her soothing answer made him feel better, even if the ZED wasn't aware of being comforted.

"This location does not appear on any of my logistical data," the ZED replied.

"Don't worry, big fella," Morgan spoke up. "We know where we are."

To their surprise, the ZED rose from the ground of the Dreamplane to stand with them. Danziger did a quick check to see that he had still not moved physically in the med lab.

"Guys, he's not moved a muscle in the real world," Danziger offered. "But I don't know about this."

The ZED began to walk in a small circle, looking about for familiar landmarks. "Where am I being detained?" he asked again.

"This is the Dreamplane, the inside of your mind," Yale offered.

"Many convicts I have questioned mentioned this place in their description of their interactions with Terrians," the ZED stated. "I believed them to be hallucinating."

"It's no hallucination, even though it seems like it ought to be," Morgan said, backing a couple of steps away when the ZED came closer to him. "I am a bit surprised you are capable of Dreaming."

"Mom says that his capabilities are buried deep inside him," Bess began and Danziger noticed the sunstone in her hand. "She wants to try to bring more of them out."

"Tell Mom that might not be a very good idea," Danziger responded. "We don't know what he will do."

"She's got this under control," Bess answered with a smile, then reached out to take the ZED by the arm.

Morgan and Danziger both winced involuntarily as she did so, remembering how the ZED had broken her arm badly in the waking world when they'd shut him down before.

This time, however, the ZED just froze in place. Danziger remembered how the planet had scanned his memories the first time he'd been in that same kind of contact with her. "What do you see, Bess?" he asked.

Bess's eyes were half shut as she and the planet ran through the ZEDs memories. "He's been here fifteen years," Bess began. "He's killed forty-seven penal colonists, twelve Grendlers, and eight Terrians." Her voice began to break.

Morgan ran to her side to support her and reached for the stone in her hand, but jerked back when he got close. "It's too hot for me," he cried. "I can't touch it."

Danziger ran to Bess as well, reaching out for the stone to join in the link and take some of the pressure off Bess. But a wave of heat also kept him from touching it. "Mom, please let us help her," he called to the planet. "It's too much for her to do alone."

Then Yale stepped forward. "I believe the planet wishes for me to be the repository of this knowledge," he said softly. "I can store it for our review without having to actually relive it." Yale reached out to the stone with his cybernetically enhanced hand. When his fingers touched it, his eyes closed in concentration.

Bess, meanwhile, appeared to relax as the information flowed into Yale instead of her. "Mom says she doesn't want any of us to have to get too close to this," she said softly after a few moments. "What she's seeing in this ZED makes her very sad."

Morgan looked up at the ZED, whose eyes were now closed peacefully as his memory downloaded into Yale's databanks. "Then we should tell Mazatyl to come put a bullet into this thing's brain," he said firmly.

"No," Bess replied. "Mom says that he didn't do these things of his own choice. His ability to choose had been buried deep inside him. She wants to know what kinds of purposes he would have had on his own."

Yale then opened his eyes. "I did not relive these events, thank goodness. But I did get enough general information from them to know a great deal about our ZED here and his contacts with Riley and other ZEDs. The good news is that there are no other ZEDs within several hundred kilometers of our position. The bad news is thanks to the biochip implants, Riley has told all of them where to find us. Three other ZEDs are closing in on us as we speak, just not very quickly."

"There's got to be some way to stop them," Morgan exclaimed. "As long as Riley can track our biostat chips, they'll know exactly where to find us."

"See what the ZED knows about these chips," Danziger requested. "Maybe Mom can find some weakness we can exploit and keep Riley from being able to track them."

"Oh!" Bess suddenly exclaimed in surprise and emotion.

"What is it?" Morgan asked, taking her elbow to support her.

"Mom is moving him back into his earlier memories," she answered softly. "From before he became a ZED. It's pretty intense."

Yale nodded, his hand still touching the sunstone Bess held before her. "Yes, it is not a very pleasant experience," he added solemnly.

As if hearing them, the ZED began to sink to the ground as though his legs would no longer support him. Bess and Yale followed him to the ground as Danziger reached out to help the ZED to the ground of the Dreamplane. However, his touch unwittingly brought him into the link as well and the ZED's memories began to wash over him, disturbing scenes of violence and warfare.

"Morgan, pull him back!" he could hear Bess shout in the distance.

Danziger was trapped in a memory of what appeared to be some kind of civil disturbance. The dark tunnels and the yellow glow of occasional work lights were familiar to him as were the uniforms of the people running around on either side of him—mining drones.

This looked like one of the tunnels on Io or Callisto. He'd flown a few resupply flights into there and remembered that both had seen some significant unrest when the mining unions had rebelled against station authorities.

"Come on, Charlie!" a young woman was saying to him. He then realized he was seeing the events through the ZED's eyes. "They'll be here any minute." A sudden explosion behind them threw the young woman to the ground. The ZED/Charlie bent down to see about her, but Danziger could see that the young woman was dead from the angle of her neck and the unfocused stare in her eyes.

Then blackness descended over his vision and he realized the ZED had either been captured or stunned.

More images flashed over him—images mixed together of working the mines, of playing with children, of drinking with a group of young men, of kissing the young woman, of listening to groups of disgruntled workers. The swirl of the young man's life came together in his head—his life before the station soldiers had quelled the rebellion, taking the young man, Charlie, into custody.

"The council does not wish to lose such bright, capable workers as yourself," a voice was saying, a voice that came from all sides as he lay on a bed in a gray, metal room. Bright lights shone in his face. "You will be a fine addition to the new ZED program."

The brightness grew in his eyes until he could no longer see, then a brief sting of pain brought black emptiness.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"What happened?" Danziger managed to mumble as he looked around to see that he was back in the med lab, sitting on the floor. Baines stood next to him, sedi-derm at the ready.

"John, are you all right?" Bess asked.

"I'm fine," Danziger managed, reaching one hand up to his head where a serious headache was beginning to pound.

"Morgan had to knock you loose from the contact," Bess explained as she and Mazatyl gave him a hand up from the floor. "Mom said the memory rush was too much for you, but would probably give you a good idea of the kind of person Charlie used to be."

"Charlie?" Baines asked, turning the sedi-derm toward the ZED.

"His name was Charlie before the stations turned him into a ZED," Danziger explained. "That much I got. It'll take a little time to process the rest of it."

"Let me get Morgan and Yale out," Bess began, "then we need to talk."

Baines and Mazatyl looked at one another as Danziger took an analgesic for the headache. Soon Bess, Morgan, and Yale gathered with them to one side of the room ready to discuss their findings.

"Well, guys, what have we learned here?" Danziger began wearily, still rubbing his temple in an attempt to massage part of the residual pain away.

"Don't get between a ZED and his memories for one thing," Morgan answered. "I caught a little of it when I pushed you away from him. The ZED-making process is downright painful at times."

"Mom was glad to learn that before he was a ZED, Charlie was a good guy. He was a miner caught up in the uprisings on Callisto. He might have been fighting with the stations, but he was no criminal—not like Gaal," Bess explained.

"It makes sense to me that after the Yale program failed so dramatically in its attempt to turn violent criminals into tutors," Yale began, "that those who created the ZEDs chose to use political criminals not unlike myself rather than the truly violent. Once these people's memories and emotional capabilities were stripped from them, they were less likely to become unstable."

Baines broke in, saying, "But you said yourself that the ZED program was stopped when a few prototypes took out a bunch of army brass training them. That doesn't sound too stable to me."

Yale sighed. "I fear that my information was incomplete. I have learned from Charlie here that the ZED program was not abolished, but rather moved even further into secrecy. The use of political dissenters as supersoldiers would not have gone over well if it had become known to the Council at large. Who knows how many ZEDs they created out of young men like this one used to be."

Yale looked back at the body of the ZED lying on the med lab table. "I've done a summary sweep of the memories the planet unlocked in him," Yale continued sadly. "This man was not a monster until the Council made him one."

Out in the plains, Uly and True fought down panic as they looked across the creek at the most unusual creature they'd seen yet. Terrians were tall, thin, brown and leathery. Grendlers and Koba were brown, lumpy and looked more amphibian than anything else. This thing was something completely different.

It stood about two and a half feet at the shoulder and walked on four legs like a dog or cat. But it was not mammalian by any stretch. If anything, it appeared to be more like a fish or snake. It was covered in shiny, reflective, iridescent scales that cast back vague images of its surroundings—very effective camouflage in an environment where the color changed drastically from season to season.

Its body was long, probably five feet in length. It had powerful looking hind legs and front legs that ended in curved claws. Its head was elongated with large clear eyes set in the front of its forehead. When the kids looked carefully, they could see sharp rows of teeth lining the jaws.

Whatever this creature was, it was lithe, it looked fast, and it was clearly a hunter. Uly and True could only hope it wasn't hunting them. Slowly, they let the grasses close over the little bleating buffalo calf and hoped the creature hadn't spotted them. They began to back away breathlessly.

Suddenly they felt a rush of movement behind them and were forced to tumble to the side as a large shaggy brown buffalo practically bowled them over in its haste to answer its baby's bleating cries. Out of the corner of her eye, True saw the predator leap into action, crossing the shallow creek in a single long leap. It was frighteningly fast and agile as it leaped onto the neck of the mother buffalo, attempting to hang its claws in the buffalo's throat.

She screamed reflexively, then wished she hadn't as another of the predators appeared in the grass across the creek from her and Uly.

"Pack hunters," Uly gasped. "Don't run, it'll chase you."

"How do you know?" she whispered in a terrified voice.

"Venusian Bounty Hunter," he replied cooly, never taking his eyes off the slowly advancing creature.

True couldn't help the rush of indignation that ran over her, competing momentarily with the panic rising in her throat. "I'm trusting my life to a vid?" Her heart began to flutter in her chest.

"Trust me," Uly continued. "Just back away slowly." About that time, the creature lunged forward. "Or not!" he yelled and turned to run.

True ran as fast as she could, but her breath began to give out almost immediately. Uly yelled at her to run faster, but she couldn't. She began to stumble as he ran back to take her hand, pulling her along with him.

Uly looked back behind them to see that the creature was nearly on them. Instinctively, he dropped to the ground, grabbing True in his arms and taking them into the earth. As they sank into the now soft ground, he understood anew what it meant to be part Terrian.

From a distance, Alonzo and Julia saw as the mother buffalo was dragged to the ground by the attacking beast and watched in horror as the second creature leaped at Uly and True. Then, in amazement, they saw Uly carry the two of them into the earth. Alonzo closed his eyes and began to Dream to Uly.

"Where are you guys?" he practically yelled on the Dreamplane in his fear.

Uly appeared before him, unharmed but shaking. "We're under the earth in a tunnel complex," he explained. "Something's wrong with True."

"Did the animal hurt her?" Alonzo asked.

"No, it's like she sick. She's wheezing like I used to do. She can barely walk," Uly explained in a shaky voice. "There are some Terrians here. I'm going to ask them to take us to the med lab like they did True's dad and Cameron."

"We'll meet you there," Alonzo replied, then each of them faded back into the waking world. Alonzo grabbed Julia's hand, then started running with her back to the complex. He raised his gear and sent out a general call to everyone in gear.

"Everybody back to camp. There's some kind of wild animal out here that tried to attack the kids. They're coming up through the earth in the med lab, so you guys move the floor panel and let them in," he shouted.

Predictably, he could hear Danziger's voice. "Are the kids hurt? How are they coming through the earth? Who's got them?"

"Uly said they weren't hurt, but that True was sick," Alonzo answered, rapidly exhausting his breath in the pace he was setting. "Julia and I are on our way there right now."

In the med lab, Baines and Mazatyl rapidly worked to move the floor panel aside. "This is getting to be a regular entrance for the Terrians," Baines murmured.

Mazatyl examined the panel design for a moment and said, "I think it was. Regular floor panels would be linked and sealed permanently. These have been modified to allow quick, easy removal."

Danziger paced back and forth in the room, helplessly watching the floor for signs of movement. Soon he was rewarded by the breaking of a brown, leathery face through the dirt as a Terrian rose through the earth, True cradled in his arms. He tried not to snatch as he took her from the Terrian's arms, brushing her hair back and dusting the dirt from her eyes and mouth.

They stepped back to admit Uly and another Terrian, Uly appearing to rise through the earth mostly on his own with only the Terrian's hand on his shoulder.

"Daddy," True whispered weakly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He was disturbed to see how pale she looked.

"No, no," Danziger replied, "you've got nothing to be sorry about, Truegirl." Baines ran up with a med scanner, running it over her.

"Julia," Baines called over gear, "where are you?"

"We're almost there," she replied breathlessly. "What have you got?"

"She's in level one systems failure," he answered grimly. Danziger half heard Julia rattle off a quick list of instructions, then watched Baines go to the cabinet.

"Danz, put her on the other exam table," Baines called over his shoulder as he quickly selected the drugs Julia had named over.

But he was frozen in place, unable to move from the spot where he stood with his precious child in his arms, knowing she was dying in front of him. Fortunately, Bess had more presence of mind than he did and firmly guided him over to the table.

He managed to lay her down, but kept her hand in both of his. It was so small. He remembered when she was a baby and how her little fingers would just barely curl around his. Even now, she'd stretch out her hand against his palm and laugh at how much difference there was between them.

On the table, True began to convulse, her breath coming in gasps and wheezes. Behind him he could hear Morgan say, "That's just like Devon."

Danziger wanted to scream at him that this wasn't anything like Devon, that True had been just fine an hour ago when she left, but he couldn't. In his heart he knew Morgan was right. True looked just like Devon had.

Baines pressed an injection against her neck, then another. The convulsions ceased and she began to breathe easier. "What's wrong with her?" Danziger asked Baines, his voice rough.

"I don't know, Danz," Baines replied. "But you know Julia will take good care of her."

Just then, Julia and Alonzo burst through the doorway, Julia breathing heavily as she donned her diaglove and began to examine the now unconscious girl.

"Uly, tell me what happened," she called across the room as she worked, making adjustments and noting information faster than the rest of them could follow.

"We found a baby buffalo and then those scaly things jumped at us. We started to run, but she couldn't keep up. And one of them was right on us, so I guess I just went into the earth with her," Uly answered. The Terrian still stood with one hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort and closeness they were not used to seeing from Terrians.

After a few moments, Julia looked up with in guarded relief. "The most acute phase is over," Julia stated. "Good job, Baines."

"Thanks, man," Danziger added sincerely. "I'm glad you were here."

Baines just gave a little smile and nod of his own, clapping Danziger on the shoulder. "I'm glad I was too, Danz."

"Julia, what's going on?" Danziger asked wearily. "She was fine this morning."

"I want to run some more checks on her before I start guessing," Julia replied cautiously. She had theories, but she wasn't quite ready to air them yet. "You sit with her while I have a chat with Baines, okay?"

Danziger nodded, but still listened to their conversation.

"Baines, this looks very much like the progress this disease took with Devon. The difference is in the onset. The scans I got from True's biochip implant look as though it is being overstressed," Julia began. "These particles in our bloodstreams must be attacking the body's systems, but the biochips are fighting back, regulating us to keep us healthy. For some reason, True's is losing its ability to fight back."

"Mom said that True would be the first, then Alonzo," Bess offered. "What could their biochips have in common?"

"Well," Julia began tentatively, "True's is the least developed because she is the youngest."

"What about Uly?" Danziger asked from his spot at True's side. "Uly is almost two years younger than True."

Julia looked down at Uly where he stood, his head tilted to one side, eyes closed, clearly Dreaming with the Terrians in the room, possibly translating for them. There was no way to know whether or not he was listening, but there was also reason to take up the time to get him out of the room when he would need to find out all this information at some point anyway.

Finally, she replied, "Uly doesn't have a biochip implant."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Everyone around the room gave her looks that ranged from surprise to resigned understanding. "Neither does Devon," Julia continued. "I think that she got sick so much faster than the rest of us because she didn't have the implant to help fight it off."

"Then why didn't Uly get sick?" Bess asked.

"I think I know that answer," Alonzo interjected. "Uly's DNA has changed a good bit from the standard human setup. The planet said something along those lines—he's so much more Terrian now that the particles can't affect him."

"I've changed too," Alonzo added, "but because of my implant, I haven't changed as much or as fast as Uly. The Terrians did something special for him when they healed him. They did something for the children of this settlement and for Mary. But not for any of the adults."

"Adults are not able to change like kids can," Uly spoke up, his eyes still closed. "The Terrians say that they could change True and help her except that the dark line in her body prevents it, it fights the change." He opened his eyes and looked around at the adults. "I think the dark line is the implant. I get a picture of dark lines running up and down her back and into her head."

"So this damned implant first nearly killed her, then saved her, and is now keeping the Terrians from healing her." Morgan summed up nicely. "We just can't win with these things, can we?"

"Maybe there is a way," Yale began thoughtfully. "When we uploaded the fix to Eve, I got a glimpse at the root directory and recorded evidence of reference links to information in Riley's database about the implants. Perhaps we could break into Riley's files again and find out some way to deactivate them."

"But if we deactivate it, she wouldn't be able to fight the particles off," Danziger responded hotly, leaving True's side to join the group. Then in a quiet undervoice he added, "She could still die before the Terrians could do anything about it."

"Plus, I don't know if we're up to tackling Riley without his full cooperation," Morgan added. "It would have to be a cyber attack." Morgan thought a moment, pulling at his dark ponytail. "Maybe the ZED has information we haven't accessed yet," he suggested.

"We could check with him first," Yale offered and the two of them pulled up their VR gear. "Bess, will you give us a hand?"

Bess looked at Danziger with deep sympathy. "She'll get through this, John," Bess said softly. "She's a tough girl and a lot stronger than she looks." Then she closed her eyes and placed her hands on Morgan's arm and the ZED's chest.

With the three of them working on what the ZED could tell them, Danziger sent Mazatyl to be sure Magus, Walman, Cameron, and Danner had gotten back safely. They were to then set up camp security to be sure that no more of the strange animals could get close enough to hurt anyone. Baines and Julia threw themselves back into research mode, and Alonzo pulled up a chair for Danziger and then himself.

In a quiet voice, Alonzo apologized, "John, I'm so sorry about this. If I'd been watching them closer, she might not have gotten into this."

"Don't blame yourself, Lonz," Danziger answered tiredly. "Sometimes I wonder how we can be so stupid. We think we're still on the stations, I guess. Everything is safe, no one gets hurt. There aren't any wild animals or poisonous plants or acid rivers on the stations, so we think we'll be just as safe here," he added with a sigh. "It's a wonder we've survived this long considering how naive we can be."

"Julia was right, you know," Alonzo stated after a few minutes. "In VR when she was out of her mind on Uly's DNA, she told Devon that this wasn't her planet. She was crazy, but right. It's not. It's not any of ours. We're just trying to make a place here, I guess. It's a good thing the planet is merciful and has a sense of humor."

"You know, Lonz," Danziger smoothed True's hair back from her brow as he spoke. "I've wished so many times since we crashed that I'd never brought her along. That I'd been unselfish enough to leave her behind, safe and secure. But I just couldn't leave my ten-year-old baby behind me and come home to a 54-year-old woman with grandkids of her own. I just couldn't do that," he sighed. "I wanted to be her dad the whole time, whatever it took." His voice broke a little and Alonzo could see him fight back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm him.

Suddenly the past Alonzo had thought long buried came back to him in a wave of regret and sorrow so deep he couldn't stem the tide. "I did just the opposite," he whispered. "My second mission out was a ten year cold sleep--ten out, ten return. When I got back, I found out that I had a nineteen year old son I didn't know about. I was only twenty-three myself."

Alonzo sat back, rubbing his eyes as if he could rub away the years and see him clearly again. "When I finally showed up in his life, I had six weeks before my next contract—a seven year run. So, we got together and went drinking. He took me around to all the new hot spots and we partied together. He got a real kick out of introducing me to his friends as his 'old man'." Alonzo couldn't help but laugh at the memory.

"Then, I had to ship back out," he continued. "When I got back, he was 33 and had an eight-year-old kid of his own. I was still 23 and ready to party. He'd grown up enough to know that it was probably not a good idea for us to meet again."

Alonzo continued, "By station time I'm 109 years old. My kid is almost 90. I quit trying to have relationships with anybody years ago. Now I look back and wonder if any of it was worth it. All I've left behind me is a string of broken connections." Alonzo gave True's hand a pat then looked at John with a deep sadness. "You did the right thing bringing her, John."

"But what if I've brought her all the way out into all this just to lose her?" Danziger whispered. "She's all I've got."

"Julia will figure it out," Alonzo said with more certainty than he felt.

Danziger looked at him with that knowing look he gave so well. "Solace, you know as well as I do that she's been working on this ever since Devon got sick. That's been weeks ago." At Alonzo's look of protest, he held up his hand and continued, "I know we've made lots of progress, but it's still going to take time. I just hope we've got time." Then Danziger took True's hand and held it to his cheek. "I hope we've got time," he repeated.

On the Dreamplane, Morgan and Yale processed reams of data with the planet's assistance. It was amazing to watch, Bess thought. Charlie was quiet. Bess asked the planet how he was doing, but the planet didn't really give a satisfactory answer. He's still thinking things through was the idea that came through the most clearly.

"Does he mind Dreaming with us?" Bess asked.

"I don't mind being here," Charlie answered. But when she tried to talk to him further, he just tuned her out. Meanwhile Morgan and Yale worked steadily, information passing in and around them visibly. She could tell that the planet was likewise engaged in the swirl of information, both observing and helping analyze the flow.

"How's it going, guys?" she asked, feeling completely superfluous to the activity going on around her.

"Fine," Morgan answered distantly.

After a few seconds of silence, Yale spoke, "The ZED has a good bit of declassified information on the biostat implants. His is more extreme in function than the civilian variety, but works the same way. The planet thinks she could possibly access the programming on his given a little time. Because it's more extensive, it's also more accessible to changes. Getting into his could help us learn how to get into ours."

"That's good," Bess replied with interest. "I'm going to check on True for a minute. Let me know if you need me for anything, okay?"

The two men agreed absently, but quickly refocused on their work. With one part of her awareness still in the Dreamplane, Bess turned a part of herself to the med lab. "How's True?" she asked.

Alonzo looked around at her and answered, "She's the same, hanging in there."

"Yale and Morgan think they're close to being able to get into Charlie's biostat chip. Mom thinks she'll be able to access it and then possibly access ours," Bess offered.

Julia looked around at her with interest. "That's good. If they can tell us what the biostat chip is doing that inhibits the action of this particle in the ZED, we might be able to find out how to help True's fight it off."

"Do we even know that the ZED is affected by the particle?" Danziger asked from True's bedside.

"It is present in his bloodstream," Julia replied. "We can only expect that if it is present, it is working. It is present in the samples I have from Devon, but not in Uly's latest blood sample. I haven't been able to isolate the difference in Uly's body and the rest of us. He apparently fought it off shortly after went entered the valley."

"I do remember that he never got as sick as the rest of us," Alonzo added. "Neither did Devon until we came upon Bennett's ship."

"She seemed to go downhill fast after that run-in she had with Bennett," Danziger added. "She rebounded enough to confront Riley with us, but once the excitement died down, she sort of crashed."

"I wonder," Julia began and her voice drifted away as she turned back to her work station.

"Dad?" True's voice broke the silence in the room.

"Yeah, Truegirl, I'm right here," Danziger replied swiftly, turning his full attention back to his daughter.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked. "I feel so bad."

"Julia's working on that," he answered. "She'll get you back to your old self soon, I promise." He felt a bit guilty that he was once again promising things that were completely out of his power to grant. Then he realized that whatever happened, the thing she needed most was confidence that everything was going to be okay. He had to provide that for her no matter what.

She nodded slightly, then said, "Make Uly tell you about those animals we saw, Dad. They were beautiful and scary all at the same time."

"I will," he said softly. "You rest now, okay?"

"Okay," she said, then closed her eyes. After a few seconds she opened them again. "Dad?"

"Yeah, Truegirl."

"Don't be sad, okay? I don't like it when you're sad," she ordered, but in a weak voice that was a pale shadow of her usual commands.

"No problem," Danziger answered as confidently as he could.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The next few hours passed slowly in the med lab. Yale, Morgan, and Bess stayed in VR/Dreamplane contact with the ZED and the planet. Julia and Baines worked busily with various blood samples and diagnostic checks on True and the rest of them. Alonzo and Danziger sat quietly by True's bedside, waiting.

Finally, Julia spoke up. "I have a few theories," she began. Bess pulled Morgan and Yale back to the waking world to listen. "I think that this particle is closely linked to cellular energy. When True got scared by the strange animals out there, her body produced a surge of energy and adrenaline that triggered a boost in the particles' activity. That boost was enough to overrun her implant's ability to handle the damage the particles cause."

She then looked over at Alonzo. "True's implant was vulnerable because it is still in the formation stages. Hers has not completely finished the job of infiltrating her nervous system. Meanwhile, Alonzo has been named the next on the list to be vulnerable. Because his implant is one of the earliest versions, it too has not completely infiltrated his system the way the rest of ours have."

"Are you calling me old?" Alonzo tried to joke.

"No, just obsolete," Morgan retorted lightly. "You know it is really funny to me that the biggest advances station technology has seemed to make in the last 100 years since this colony was founded have been in VR and biochip implants. Keep 'em entertained and keep 'em monitored," he snorted.

"I tend to agree with you," Yale said.

"The funny thing is that I'm not sure that the implants are performing exactly as designed," Julia continued. "I think they've changed here on this planet."

"That makes sense," Baines added. "Remember how that behavioral modification chip in Wentworth went all sour and gave us the plague."

"I believe that there's something on this planet--viral, bacterial, molecular, who knows what—that affects technological devices. These implants may be changing on us, just like our own biology is changing," Julia concluded.

"I still volunteer to have mine removed," Morgan interjected.

"You wouldn't be able to talk to Mom anymore," Bess argued plaintively. "She's using the chip to Dream with us."

"If I need to do any Dreaming, I'll find a Terrian," Morgan retorted.

"Even if you guys found a way to shut them off, I don't know if that's a good idea for the adults," Julia stated. "Our systems are so dependent on the interaction with the implants that it could be downright dangerous."

"What about True or Alonzo?" Danziger asked. "Could theirs be deactivated? Then the Terrians could help them."

"They would fare better than the rest of us, but it would still be risky," Julia answered.

Uly spoke up then from his spot next to the Terrians still waiting with them. "If Alonzo's was deactivated, he could Dream more fully with the Terrians, but they would not be able to heal him. He's too old to change that way," he translated, his eyes half closed. "But if True's was shut down, she could be changed. It would be hard, they say, and they would have to hurry before the sickness took her, but she could be changed." He looked up at the rest of the group, a funny look on his face. "She'd be like me," he said.

"Even if they could find a way to help True, that still leaves Alonzo vulnerable—as well as the rest of us—plus it still doesn't give us a way to cure Devon," Julia concluded. "I'm going to keep working on figuring out how this particle works. That's the best chance for all of us."

"I vote that the three of us," Morgan gestured to himself, Bess, and Yale, "keep working on deactivating the chip. That gives True another option should the need arise."

Everyone in the room looked at Danziger for his final call on their recommendations, but he just sat next to True, her hand in his. Finally, Alonzo asked, "Danz, how does that sound to you?"

Danziger looked up, the strain showing in the lines around his eyes. "Yeah, that sounds good. Lonz, why don't you look Cameron up and see if he can bring some food around here. I'm sure all you guys are getting hungry. We missed lunch over two hours ago," he added before turning his attention back to the sleeping girl on the exam table.

Everyone turned back to their work, Morgan, Yale, and Bess re-immersing themselves back in the connection with the ZED.

"I really think we're close to cracking this," Morgan offered as they slipped back onto the VR Dreamplane. "In time, we could hack deeply enough into these implants to be selective in shutting down functions. We could turn off their broadcast to Riley and basically be invisible again. Then those ZEDs on the hunt for us wouldn't be able to track us with the satellite."

"That's great, Morgan honey," Bess began, "but that's a rabbit we don't have time to chase." Morgan gave her a confused look. "Our first priority is shutting down True's implant completely so the Terrians can help her if Julia can't," she clarified for him.

"It won't do you any good," the ZED stated from where he stood off to the side in the Dreamscape.

"What won't?" Yale asked.

"Those other ZEDs will track you down, no matter what you do," he said grimly. "That's what they're built to do. That's what I was built to do."

"But not any longer," Yale stated in a deep, reassuring voice. He walked over to place one hand on the ZED's shoulder. "Charlie, you are no longer a ZED. This planet has given you your life back, your identity."

The ZED looked down at him with a savage look in his eyes. "No, it hasn't. I'm not that person on Callisto. But I'm also not the ZED that killed all those people." He looked away again. "I don't know who I am."

"Charlie, on this planet, people have a tendency to get second chances," Yale stated softly. "The planet showed me my past too. I am not Braden Croy any more. But I am a person who can make choices about who I will be from now on. So are you."

The ZED stood there in silence. Then to Bess and Yale's surprise, Morgan stepped over to the huge red-haired man. He placed his hand on the back of the ZED's neck and pulled him closer so that the two of them touched forehead to forehead. "Dream with me," Morgan said, and the two began to Dream together privately.

Morgan took the ZED to the escape pod of the Roanoke. He showed him the choice that he made there, Danziger yelling at him through the hatch, "There's people here! Don't go!"

"To this day, I don't know for sure that everyone got off that ship," Morgan whispered as they stood on the Dreamplane, watching the pod blast away from the crippled ship. "I have always been afraid to ask. I didn't want to find out for certain that people died on the Roanoke because I was selfish and afraid."

Suddenly the scene changed to the underground caves where the group first found the sunstones. Morgan and the ZED watched as the Terrian half-emerged from the cave wall only to be frozen by the geolock. "That Terrian died, Yale was taken, and Mary was shunned by her tribe because of my actions," Morgan said quietly. "Granted the planet did help me release the Terrian and Yale was set free, but Mary was still cut off from the only family she knew because of my actions, my greed, my selfishness."

"But this group and this planet have given me another chance. Even though I left them all behind on that ship, they've given me another chance to prove that I'm not that man anymore. I hurt this planet, but it still gave me another shot to make things right," he said firmly.

Morgan brought them Dreaming back into the Dreamscape med lab where they stood next to True's bedside. He reached out and stroked her hair. "This little girl needs us to help give her a second chance, too," Morgan said softly. "I'm not the man I was, and neither are you. At least you've got a good excuse—I got a taste of what they did to you to make you into a ZED. Give yourself another shot at this, Charlie. Or if you don't want to be Charlie, pick something else. Just take your second chance, okay?"

He brought them back onto the Dreamplane with Bess and Yale and Morgan stepped away from the ZED, giving him a measuring look. After a few moments, the ZED nodded.

"Bess," Morgan began, "will you ask Mom to help us process all this so we can learn how to shut down a biochip implant? True's counting on us. We might be her only shot at life."

Bess gave him a nod, then filed away what she'd seen. Sometimes Morgan Martin was the single most amazing person she'd ever met. This was one of those occasions.

Time passed slowly in the med lab. Cameron indeed brought a late lunch, but no one ate much, Danziger not at all. Still, it was enough to keep them going into the late afternoon.

Alonzo had half dozed off in his chair next to Danziger when a sudden alarm from the Terrians brought him to wakefulness.

"Julia," Uly was the first to cry out, "the Terrians say True is getting worse."

Alonzo looked down to see that True was indeed much paler and that her breathing had grown raspy and harsh. Danziger's face was terrible to behold, drawn with fear and worry. "Please help her, Julia," he managed to whisper.

Julia ran over to the little girl's bedside, her diaglove running across her body. Alonzo could see the concern on her face, though she fought to hide it. She called to Baines for a system stimulant, pressing it against True's neck. The worst of the distress faded, but only slightly. They could all see that True was running out of time.

Alonzo closed his eyes and cast himself onto the Dreamplane with Bess, Morgan, and Yale. "Please tell me you guys have come up with something," he begged.

"Why? How's True?" Bess asked worriedly.

"She's not doing too hot," Alonzo replied. "We may need that biochip shutdown sooner than we'd hoped."

Morgan and Yale stood next to the ZED, one on each side, a hand on his shoulder to increase the flow of information between them. Bess stood with the sunstone, one hand on Morgan's shoulder, creating a chain effect. "What can I do?" Alonzo asked softly.

"Mom wants to know if you've ever done any programming," Bess replied.

"Only on ship drives," Alonzo responded.

"Has anybody else?" she continued after consulting briefly with the planet through the sunstone.

"I don't know, maybe Baines or Danner," he answered.

"Go bring them into the link. If you touch them, she'll be able to pull them in," Bess ordered, her eyes closed in communication with the planet. Then she looked up at Alonzo on her own to add, "But take Baines by surprise. He might not do well if he knows it's coming."

"My pleasure," Alonzo gave her a devilish grin and slipped back into the waking world, carrying Bess's touch with him.

He walked over to where Baines stood watching Julia conduct another test. "Julia, I need to borrow him for a few minutes," Alonzo said, touching Baines on the shoulder. Baines's eyes opened with surprise as he felt himself pulled out of his own awareness and through the tunnel of fire that was the first trip into the planet's Dreamplane. He eased Baines to sit on the floor as his eyes closed.

"Mom needs him," Alonzo explained to Julia and Danziger, who both looked downright dumbfounded.

Alonzo then went next door to the ops room where Danner and Mazatyl sat watching the monitors for any sign that the predatory animals were approaching. "Danner, could I borrow you for a moment here in the med lab?" Alonzo asked casually. She nodded and followed him back to the room.

"What happened to Baines?" she asked, seeing him sitting there on the floor. "How's True?"

"True needs your help," Alonzo began. "Have you ever done any programming?"

"Yes, some," she answered. "What can I do to help?"

"Come Dream with me," Alonzo responded with a sweet smile and placed his hand on her shoulder. Immediately, she began to fold up as the planet took her into the group. He helped her to the floor, then gave Julia and Danziger a smile and a wink as he moved himself back onto the Dreamplane as well.

Baines was, predictably frightened and furious. "What the hell is this?" he roared. "Where the hell am I?"

Morgan glared at him. "You're on the Dreamplane at last with the rest of us weirdos," he responded hotly. "Now plug yourself into this so we can figure out how to shut down True's implant before this particle kills her."

Baines nervously licked his lips then walked over to the group. Danner also stepped forward and at a nod from Yale placed her hand on the ZED's back. With his head turned to the side as if he was afraid something was going to explode against him, Baines did the same. The sunstone grew brighter as it brought their minds, knowledge, and experience to bear on the problem.

Back in the med lab, the Terrians trilled questions at each other. Uly trilled back a noncommittal response. Then he spoke to Danziger and Julia. "The Terrians are impressed with how much contact you have with the Mother. They've never known her to be interested in humans before."

After several moments, Uly spoke again, "They say that the time has come."

As if on cue, Bess opened her eyes. Danziger could tell she was still on the Dreamplane. "John, we know how to shut down True's implant. Mom will run the commands through me, then the Terrians will take her into the earth to be changed."

To Julia's surprise, Danziger shook his head no. "Tell Mom I have to do it," he stated firmly, his voice rough. "If anybody is going to be her connection to True, it's me. I'll do it."

Julia stepped forward. "John, I have to warn you, if you do this, there's no going back. She will die within minutes without the implant working to fight the particles' activity. The Terrians will have to move fast," she warned.

Danziger nodded his acceptance, then carefully picked True up in his arms. He walked over to where one of the Terrians had moved back onto the exposed earth, holding out his hands to take her.

"Daddy?" True said dreamily. "Are you taking me to bed?"

The words choked in his throat, but Danziger managed to respond. "No, Truegirl," he replied. "Remember what the Terrians did for Uly? They're going to do the same thing for you."

"No, Daddy," she responded fearfully. "I don't want to be a Terrian. I want to stay with you." Her head lolled weakly in his arms with the effort of speaking. He knew her time was running out.

"They're going to make you well so you can come back to me," he replied gently, holding his baby as closely in his arms as he could. "Maybe we can learn to Dream together," he offered, keeping his voice firm, even though tears threatened to roll down his cheeks.

Julia stood by his side, her glove hovering over True's still form. "There's not much time left, John," she said seriously, her eyes also filled with tears.

Danziger launched himself into the Dreamplane to see the group gathered with the ZED. Bess stood there before him, the sunstone stretched out to him. Silently, he reached for it, bringing himself into the planet's touch.

The planet's concern for him and for True ran over him like warm rain. She was so glad to be able to stop the darkness that now threatened his child. She asked if he was ready. With a nod, he opened himself to the power that rushed through him and into his little girl's body.

He was aware that in the waking world, True convulsed, then lay completely still in his arms. "The biostat implant has been deactivated," he could hear Julia say. "Let her go, John."

His entire body shook with the effort as he forced himself to place True into the hands of an alien, a creature so unlike him that they could not even speak to one another. How different would his True be when they returned her to him? Or would she even survive? He couldn't bear the thought that he might never see her again.

With the deepest sense of loss and helplessness he'd ever felt, John Danziger could only watch as the Terrian sank through the earth, his daughter, his only child, his very heart, in his arms.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Boy, doesn't that just tick you off? Just like ratings sweeps week. BTW, if you don't want the next episode pre-empted by a football game or something, you better review. Let me know you're out there. Also, if you'd rather these were all one chapter instead of five, let me know. It'd be a long chapter, but might be preferable. Your call. **


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